David Steuber  <david@david-steuber.com> wrote:
+---------------
| Kenny Tilton <ktilton@nyc.rr.com> writes:
| > Who was the QA guy who could not get anyone in Detroit to listen to
| > him so he went Japan?
| 
| I think the guy's name was Denning.
+---------------

Actually, it was Dr. W. Edwards Deming. And "Detroit" and others in the
U.S *did* listen to him during WW2, when the advances in statistical
quality control he proposed were very useful in ramping up America's
war-materiel machine. Then in post-war-reconstruction Japan, he helped
the Japanese break out of the "cheap junk" stereotype they'd been in.
But when he tried the same thing in the U.S. following his successes in
Japan, he was indeed given the cold shoulder, as American industry had
immediately gone back to "the old ways" after the end of the war. (*sigh*)

It wasn't until the 1980's, when Japanese auto makers began to seriously
threaten traditional U.S. manufacturers with their lower prices yet *higher*
quality, that the U.S once again began to look (almost too late!) at
Deming's principles of Contiuous Quality Improvement. Links:

    http://www.deming.org/demingprize/demingprize.html
    http://www.dharma-haven.org/five-havens/deming.htm
    http://deming.eng.clemson.edu/onlineq.html
    http://deming.eng.clemson.edu/pub/psci/
    http://www.ecommerce-now.com/images/ecommerce-now/deming.htm


-Rob

-----
Rob Warnock			<rpw3@rpw3.org>
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